Paris

[Ash]

Gonna be taking a weekday trip to Paris, planning on monday to friday. I'll be going in anywhere from two weeks to two month's time, depending on how soon I can afford to go.

Anything that I just CAN'T miss? Or shall I just take a map and get hopelessly lost? :)

[Frank Petronio]

Just walk around as much as possible, it's all good!

[Ash]

Well I'm 'only' going for the LaChappelle exhibition. That's the intention. So anything on top is bonus.

[Walter Calahan]

Why see LaChappelle's work when there is so much fine art in Paris. Unless of course you're also combining LaChappelle's photography with Gustave Courbet's "The Origin of the World." (Musee d'Orsay, Paris)

I'd rather go to Paris to make my own images. But what do I know?

[Ash]

Walter, on a degree course in photography, you're expected to travel and see a range of professional and successful photographers, LaChappelle is pretty damn successful. But yes the week will be for personal gratification as much as museum visits.

[Bill_1856]

The Cartier-Bresson Foundation should be on your list.

[Blueberrydesk]

If you want to try the greatest chocolate chip cookies in the world, there's a little shop on Boulevard St. Germain just east of the corner of the Rue de Odeon, south side of the street. Absolutely magnificent! Great crepes somewhere around there too, gotta have the nutella and banana...

Why does my stomach remember places better than my brain does?

[jnantz]

there is a little natural history museum near the louvres.
its right out of the 1890s ... stuff in jars, ticket hand written ...
i wish i could remember the name ...
take a ride on the ferris wheel in
le jardin des tuileries and a ride on
le bateau-mouche on the siene ...

[Allen in Montreal]

First question,
have you been before and if so how long ago?

[chuck461]

Two photographic museums near each other. Try La Maison Européenne de la Photographie (http://www.mep-fr.org/us/actu_1.htm) and Hotel Du Sully just off Place Du Vosges. Very close to each other at Metro St Paul. Then have a walk to Blvd Beaumarchaise between Republic and Bastille to shop the used photo shops.

Photographic opportunities are everywhere. Sacre Coeur is a favorite of mine. Cimetière du Père-Lachaise is good also. Musee Rodin blew me away (http://www.musee-rodin.fr/welcome.htm).

I hope I don't offend anyone with the 35mm.

Have fun
Chuck

[Walter Calahan]

LaChappelle is successful in the short term, but will his work have legs (other than the scantily clad women in his pictures) in the long term? Grin.

I have one of his books on my shelf, but after the second look, there's not much to compel me to return. It's all shock and awe, but doesn't reach my heart.

See if you can track down a Sebastião Salgado show. I believe he lives in Paris, or once did. And by all means, see Cartier-Brasson's work while in Paris!

Too bad you can't make it to Washington DC for the 50th anniversary show of Robert Franks' work. It is on right now.

[pkphotog]

If you want to try the greatest chocolate chip cookies in the world, there's a little shop on Boulevard St. Germain just east of the corner of the Rue de Odeon, south side of the street. Absolutely magnificent! Great crepes somewhere around there too, gotta have the nutella and banana...

Why does my stomach remember places better than my brain does?


I agree the crepes around the Latin Quarters are to die for.

Rodin museum blew me away, too.
Musee D'Orsay, The Louvre (see Battle of San Romano by Uccello...bloody amazing), the view from Montmartre, Musee-orangerie.
Buy a week metro pass and go wherever you want.

[Ash]

Thanks for all the responses so far.

I've technically been before. At about 3am, in a car passing from South to North on my way home from Perpignon to Dover. That was two years ago now. So I've never seen the city.

I was planning on getting some sort of train pass and bumming around the city a bit, but so long as I'm not just going in a tiny circle, afraid to branch out to areas a little further away. It would be like going to London and spending 4 days in Covent Garden because you were afraid of getting the Northern line to Camden. If I have four or five days I'd like to really explore.


Taking photos, I'm taking my Nettar 515, my grandfather's brother's camera which has traveled all over europe with the pair of them. I think it deserves another holiday.

[Ash]

....and I am going for the sake of my belly as much as my brain ;)